Finishing the Challenge

My self-imposed challenge went well, I think. Thursday night I made chili, and added two bunches of fresh kale as in this recipe. I had ground beef (90% lean) in the freezer, as well as canned pinto beans in the cupboard, and served it over brown rice. The kids prefer cornbread with chili, but I was out of cornmeal.

Last night I made Baked Shells Casserole, which is pretty good. (I made a much simpler tomato sauce, but followed the recipe in spirit.) I'm not a huge fan of Rachael Ray...her cooking always seems "mutt-like" to me, as opposed to being purely ethnic, but then again we are a nation of mutts, so to speak.

I consider my challenge finished, although I still have to get through the weekend. Not sure yet how the meals will go, as we are very busy and will likely be out of the house for long stretches. So I may indeed have to run to the store at some point, or we'll settle for some sort of egg dish. I liked my challenge...it was good to clean out some items, and stick to guidelines. We have so many supermarkets within a short drive that it's easy to get distracted and buy more than I need or change a week's worth of menus on a whim. And I was successful in that I used all whole food products, nothing overly processed....the week felt sparse in a Lent-like way, but we were not deprived at all.

DS16 is in a state meet this weekend, and all our plans center around his activity. It's a drive to get to the big indoor venues that can hold so many kids, so I anticipate we'll be busy and tired by Sunday night, and vacation's end. I'm glad we had a low-key week at home, and the kids got lots of rest before returning back to school and the fresh batch of germs from vacationing classmates! In my experience, the end of winter usually results in several colds and other upper respiratory infections, due to our tired immune systems.

We've been watching the Olympics, and DD17 noted all the McDonald's and Coca-Cola commercials, and said she doubted the athletes really consumed those products. Well, I don't know about that...I personally can't believe all the junk high school athletes eat. Eventually it will catch up to them, but then a lifetime of bad habits may be ingrained. I really think youth sports should have a nutrition component, and I'm not talking about sports drinks or energy bars. Given the budget cuts all public schools have experienced in the past few years, I am not holding my breath.